Hillary Faints and Falls in the Polls

On the bright side, this week the Clinton camp got a reprieve from the non-stop focus on her email scandal. On the down side, that break came because concerns over Clinton's health took a scary turn when she collapsed at an event on 9/11. And that episode came on the heels of her lightening rod comments calling Trump's supporters a "basket of deplorables." Those two news items piled on to the underlying email and hacking scandal that continue to fuel accusations of impropriety while she was Secretary of state. We know Clinton has never polled decently on trustworthiness, but polls are now showing just how deeply these scandals have penetrated concerns of the electorate. Nonetheless, it seems to us that the Clinton's campaign is continuing to count their chickens before they hatch. The team's transition planning has ramped up despite the tightening, near even polls (which, we'd note, are now focused on likely voters and therefore a bit more reliable than summer polls). The transition planning may even be redirecting much needed energy away from grass roots get-out-the-vote efforts that are Clinton's best asset and hope. We're seeing progressive groups and leaders expend a lot of energy trying to shape the Clinton transition team, with a few notable defeats already. Surely Clinton can campaign and plan for victory at the same time, but it might not be worth it in the 50% chance she loses in November.